Most arsenic poisoning is chronic: Through global trade, we are ingesting more and more arsenic-contaminated products – mainly rice, tea, medicinal herbs. Acute arsenic poisoning usually is accidental or occupational (mainly workers in pest control, electronics manufacturing industry and pressure-treated carpentry). Few are homi- or suicidal. Earlier this year I have been diagnosed with arsenic-induced ataxia. Ataxia means imbalance, wobbliness.

For me, I am glad that I have “just” ataxia, and not more. The list below contains Latin as well a common names to make it easier to find things.

Here is the short of what I have been doing to reduce my arsenic levels:
1. Stop using tainted products; look for safer sources.
2. Sauna as often as possible to sweat out heavy metals. Sweating through exercise and summer heat also helps.
3. Eating fresh garlic and cilantro bind and expel heavy metals
4. Vitamin C, selenium, vitamin B12, zinc, folate and methionine add to the elimination of arsenic.
5. And, of course, all the other lifestyle goodies: A healthy diet heavy on vegetables. Movement. Enough sleep. Plenty of water (some areas of the US have arsenic-contaminated drinking water from wells – careful!).

Signs and Symptoms

The myriad manifestations of arsenic intoxication do a roller coaster through all medical specialties, it seems. Since there are so many overlapping features with many diseases, it will take an open mind and special alertness to make a diagnosis. Just to show the enormous scope of signs and symptoms, I have thrown together acute and chronic arsenic intoxication. The list is not thought for diagnosing yourself - consult your physician. Here is the list:

Inflammation lies at the bottom of chronic disease - diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, some forms of depression and anxiety, heart disease, stroke, COPD (chronic bronchitis), osteoporosis, certain cancers, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, allergies, asthma, eczema and other skin diseases, heartburn, gastritis – and so many more. Yes, often you would not get these diseases if you didn’t have the right (or wrong) genes. But let’s face it: Most of us carry the genes for those diseases. All we need is a bad lifestyle to trigger chronic ailments. All of which make your life miserable.

Of course, the main reason for the development of chronic diseases is that we are reaching older age than we used to – we have more time to hatch illness. But it is not that old age automatically renders you invalid and decrepit. One can have a healthy old age! But it takes some luck, and some effort.

So what are the habits that trigger chronic inflammation and chronic diseases? The usual – and well-known - culprits: Inappropriate diet, too little movement (or too much!), environmental pollution of water, air and soil, psychological stress, unhappy relationships, unfulfilling jobs, drugs (medical and recreational), deficient water intake, unnecessary drugs, overweight and obesity, vitamin D deficiency, unnecessary antibiotics that kill the natural microbiome in our guts and on our skin. Another list that could go on and on.

How do you tell that inflammation is damaging your body? Well, if you already have a chronic disease - that is the proof of the pudding. But If you are at the stage before a doctor runs some tests and finally makes the diagnosis – if you are in the pre-stages of disease – you might inspect your fingers for the telltale signs of inflammation: a red halo around the root of the nail, at the area of the nail bed.

That halo can be thin and faint, and it can be thick and swollen. In some patients, the redness goes up half their digits, or higher. It is an early sign of inflammation, and one doctors usually don’t know about. In fact, I didn’t learn this in medical school – I observed it in my patients.

The beauty of it? If you clean up your act, the halos get smaller and paler – you see within a few days that you are on the way to improvement. Especially if you leave out some offending allergenic food – the most common guilty parties here are dairy, gluten, nuts, sugar.

Why is it that your fingertips can tell me the state of your health, the degree of inflammation? Traditional Chinese Medicine uses the tongue to tell about illness and well-being. My favorite European teacher Sebastian Kneipp used to base his diagnoses and prognoses on the shape and color of the earlobes; he must have come to it by simple observation, just as I did. The tongue, the earlobes, the fingertips – why those? Mainly because they are easily visible. For sure, if your body is riddled with inflammation, you will have signs of it in nearly all your inner organs. But the inner organs are hidden from direct inspection. For evaluating the tongue, I’d have to ask the patient to open her mouth. Earlobes and fingers are there for the looking. – Your fingers and nails can tell the doctor much more about your health (or un-health). But the FFD is easy for lay people.

Let me tell you right away that I don’t yet know if only food allergies can trigger the redness of the fingers, or if other toxins or pathology processes do it too. I would think so. But there has been no study yet, just quiet observation on my patients.

What I like about the Fleckenstein Finger Diagnosis (FFD): It is a do-it-yourself tool. You don’t need me to tell you something is wrong. You just need to look down on your fingertips. And if you see a reddish halo: Get up from your chair, and do something for your health: Go for a walk, and clean out your pantry!

• Choose a quiet corner
• Turn egg timer on 5 minutes
• Sit with crossed legs on the floor on a cushion; or on a chair
• Keep your back straight - let the top of your head touch Heavens
• Hands: palms-up and open on your knees
• Closed eyes
• Breathe in and out slowly – always start with exhaling (counting regularly might help the beginner)
• Do not move at all except keeping your back straight
• Empty your brain from thoughts and outside disturbances
• Pay attention to your sensations: breathing, aches, itches, fears, etc.:
• Let them happen.
• Stop when the clock rings
• Go on with your day with renewed energy and purpose.

The Five-Minutes Meditation is useful when
• you are stressed out
• your emotions overwhelm you (anger, sadness, anxiety, jealousy, etc.)
• you are tempted to binge out on food (perfect to do before each meal in obesity, for instance)
• you suffer with sleeplessness - just do it before retiring to bed
• you are listless and bored and procrastinating
• you have high blood pressure
• you have pains - instead of taking pills

For really learning to meditate, there are good programs, groups, and courses available.
Do not attempt to increase the time above 5 minutes.

Citation
"Meditation is not about feeling a certain way. It's about feeling the way you feel. It's not about making the mind empty or still, although stillness does deepen in meditation and can be cultivated systematically. Above all, meditation is about letting the mind be as it is and knowing something about how it is in this moment. It's not about getting somewhere else, but allowing yourself to be where you already are. If you don't understand this, you will think you are constitutionally unable to meditate. But that's just more thinking and, in this case, incorrect thinking at that."
"But to stay at it for even five minutes requires intentionality. To make it part of your life requires some discipline. " (From: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are).

Nearly one in one hundred people have gluten intolerance (gluten enteropathy, sprue, celiac sprue). In only fifty percent of them does the disease show with gastro-intestinal symptoms - the rest has non-intestinal symptoms.

Be aware that many of these symptoms can also have other causes - this list does not replace a doctor who sees you!

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a drug that would work against bacteria, viruses, and fungi?

We have that drug – brought to us by Mother Nature: Tea tree oil.

The oil from the leaves of the small Australian tree Melaleuca alternifolia of the myrtle family provides us with an essential oil that works against all kinds of germs. Don’t confuse it with “tea oil” which comes in big bottles and is used for cooking purposes. Unfortunately, only on the outside. Taken internally, it is rather toxic and can be fatal.

But for all kinds of skin conditions, it is perfect. Nearly perfect – because, rarely, some people develop allergies and then should not use tea tree oil any longer. Usually tea tree oil does not irritate the skin. But if you experience increased redness after application, the possibility of an allergy needs to be considered; another possibility would be a worsening infection.

The offending ingredient that leads to allergies is cineol(e). A good (and rather expensive) tea tree oil contains five or less percent of cineol; cheaper varieties can have up to sixty percent. If a brand does not list the cineol content, it should not be trusted.

Tea tree oil belongs in every First Aid kit as an all-round antiseptic. Use it mostly as iodine was used in the past. It acts anti-inflammatory and healing on the skin. In minute doses, it is said to stimulate the immune system – but this is definitely not a substance I would ingest. Keep it away from children and pets!

Don’t use on the mucosa of your private parts or in your eyes! Tea tree oil has some estrogenic effects, so don’t use it on your breasts. In males, especially boys: Don’t overuse it – because of its estrogen effect! – In rare cases, it can aggravate eczema. There is one report of hearing loss after application of tea tree oil in the ear; don’t try this!

• Bacteria: Infected hang nails, pimples, abrasions, staphylococcus aureus (even against resistant staph). If the area is not too large. In large wounds there is the danger of absorption and internal toxicity. In most skin conditions, it is applied several times per day with a Q-tip.
• In acne it helps to add five drops onto a moist face cloth. Rub the skin gently. Don’t get it into your eyes (and eliminating all dairy products might even do more against acne than tea tree oil).
• Viruses: Cold sores, external herpes blisters, chickenpox, shingles.
• Fungi: Athlete’s foot (applied twice a day, it even kills toe nail fungus!), jock itch, ringworm.
• Lice: Rub scalp with tea tree oil.
• Mites (scabies): Apply to affected areas.
• Comedones (blackheads): Dab on black dot several times until it disappears. Works also on whiteheads.
• Dandruff (Pityrosporum ovale, Malassezia furfur): Add a few drops to your shampoo.
• Mild burns and sunburns: It relieves the pain.
• Sore throat: One drop tea tree oil to one glass of water. Gargle – but don’t swallow.
• Insect bites: a drop takes a way the itch and starts the healing process.
• Tea tree oil also repels insects. Unfortunately, it is rather expensive for that purpose.
• Itches: Try tea tree oil on minor itches. For severe and prolonged itches, you better see your physician.
• Sweaty, smelly feet: Apply a few drops of tea tree oil after washing with soap and rinsing. Again: A change in diet (no dairy, sugar, bad fats, less meats; more vegetables) might get to the root of the problem.
• Mouthwash: One drop per glass of water helps gingivitis and peridontitis.
• Toothpaste may contain tea tree oil because of its anti-bacterial effects. You can also put one drop of tea tree oil on your regular toothpaste and brush with this.
• Tea tree oil is also used in natural deodorants.
• Hemorrhoids (external only).
• Vaginal candidiasis: Because you don’t want it too strong at that area, only use commercially available vaginal suppositories.
• Warts: Since warts are caused by virus, one can try tea tree oil – but I have never used it for that purpose and have no experience with it.
• Aromatherapy: a tiny drop goes a very long way. Tea tree oil is thought to be “soul balm,” healing psychological traumas, and helps against anxieties, increases confidence and helps when one is exhausted and discouraged. Some migraine sufferers are helped by tea tree oil in the air.

Tea tree oil was “discovered” in Australia in the nineteen twenties – probably when aborigines used it and a white man saw it. With the arrival of antibiotics especially after World War II, it was somewhat forgotten. The new interest in natural agents since the seventies has revived the tea tree oil business – which is quite extensive nowadays.